Public says goodbye to Michael Scott

November 22, 2009

A public memorial to Chicago Public Schools President Michael Scott today gave a platform for prominent figures to share memories, but the event also allowed West Side residents to say goodbye to one of their own.

A Video tribute to Chicago Board Of Education President Michael Scott during a public memorial service for Scott at the UIC Forum today. A private funeral was held at Holy Family Church in Chicago Saturday. (Tribune / Scott Strazzante)

Longtime resident Calvin Muhammad never met Scott, a native of the North Lawndale neighborhood and the popular confidant to Mayor Richard Daley whose death has been ruled a suicide but is under investigation by police. But he felt compelled to attend Scott's Sunday farewell at the UIC Forum, 725 W. Roosevelt Rd.

"He's from the West Side, I'm from the West Side and that's one thing about the West Side, we have a very strong bond," Muhammad said. "Though we may not have personally shook hands, that's the kind of bond we have on the West Side. We respect one another. There's a lot of respect on the West Side."

Muhammad was one of the more than 1,000 people to attend the memorial that brought out prominent figures such as Gov. Pat Quinn, U.S. Rep Jesse Jackson Jr., D-Chicago, and CPS chief executive officer Ron Huberman.

Numerous speakers paid homage to Scott's sturdy ties to the West Side that began with him as a community organizer decades ago and continued as a someone who fought for its inclusion for advancement.

"He was one of us. He was the best of us," West Side Ald. Sharon Dixon, 24th, told the audience.

U.S. Rep Danny Davis, D-Chicago, himself a fixture on the city's West Side, said that as a younger man, Scott showed the qualities that made him successful.

"We saw that Michael had talent and Michael continued to emerge," Davis said.

The roughly two-hour memorial often took on the feeling of a Baptist church, with stirring gospel solos dedicated to Scott and speakers often quoting Scripture to console members of his family. One of Scott's nieces read a letter of condolence from President Barack Obama.

Toward the end of the memorial, Scott's adult children thanked those in attendance and asked for their continued support as they dealt with the tragedy. Their mother, Scott's former wife, Millicent, died in May.